Saba® People Management Blog
06 November, 2008
Performance Reviews vs. Movie Reviews – Similarities That Matter.
Author: Maksim Ovsyannikov
I was recently a guest at a dinner party. In times such as these, as you can probably imagine, a dinner conversation quickly turned to current affairs. Given that most of us were from the HCM space, the current affairs were somewhat directly related to people management technology. One topic stood out in particular – the process of conducting performance reviews in organizations as the one that remained practically unchanged for decades. A rather simple dilemma surfaces a huge problem with performance reviews. Consider Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia, Washington Mutual…the list goes on. Now consider their executives – people single handedly responsible for driving these organizations into the ground. What do you think was their last performance review score, conducted a year ago? Without having privileges to this information, I guarantee that these few good men got some of the highest performance review scores in their respective organizations. Then, you might ask, what was the problem? How is it that a culture of “high performers” could single handedly kill the world’s financial machine?
Without even guessing which company you work for, I can predict that your organization probably uses a form, with a set of objectives, for performance reviews. Your manager, and in some cases others, evaluate you against various goals and objectives at least once a year. The truth is that, in most organizations, a process of filling out a single form contributes almost entirely to an assessment of someone’s performance. Interestingly, we may also find that many of the executives don’t receive a performance review. All evidence on the table (above), let’s agree that this is an issue.
How did we end up in a situation where, if used, performance reviews do not produce meaningful results? Consider movie critics for a moment – multiple judges, each a representative of a newspaper, magazine, TV show, evaluate a new movie. But when it comes to relying on movie reviews, do we use a solo opinion of a critic or is it more valuable to combine it with that of an entire community of movie-goers. In a recent survey, movie goers agreed with the opinion of a social networking site, such as Yahoo Movies, versus the opinion of a movie critic every single time they went to see a new film. Can we use what we learn from movies in what we should do with performance reviews? Would it be more meaningful if your community evaluated you, encouraged you, guided you and helped you develop? Instead of your manager assigning you an annual performance score, what if your community – customers and associates alike – contributed to your performance profile on an ongoing basis? This, my friends, is an ultimate desirable fusion of collaboration, social networking and performance reviews.
Consider my friend Jack for a moment. Jack harnesses the power of his social network in the office by contributing valuable information into his company’s knowledge network. Jack is a star – but not because his manager said so – he is a star because others consistently rely on his ability to answer questions, provide expertise and connect others to knowledge that helps them in their daily work. Jack’s contributions to the company’s enterprise knowledge sharing platform consistently receive highest rankings from others. People certify the content that he contributes as the best of its kind and Jack has developed a community of followers who are constantly notified when his new contributions become available. Do you see the correlation with movie reviews? Just like in movies, in corporate America, let’s finally rely on the review that counts! Your thoughts?
Permalink | Blog Index | Back to top
Comment from Anja Schuetz
on November 8, 2008
I couldn't agree more! A review of any kind (done by one person) is always subjective rather than objective. Therefore it takes lots of "subjective" opinions in order to see an (objective) general trend. Performance Reviews might rise and fall with the person who's evaluating you - even though your performance did not change - just because you're subject to the reviewer's interpretation. A responsible people manager should always seek to get as much feedback as possible from the people who report to him or her. Ideally those people should be given the chance to give anonymous feedback, in case some people might be intimidated by it and fear a disadvantage from telling the truth. Thanks for this post!
Comment from Praveen Kumar
on November 19, 2008
Refreshingly different view and an interesting take on the subject. Here's something I found interesting. To read the article, visit http://www.broadbandelicious.com and click on the CAREER COUNSEL section. It has a great writeup listing 10 ways on how to make your perfomance review a success. The article has been written by an experienced professional in the field.
|
|
